Cave Spring, Lower Current
A spring rising in a cave mouth up a short branch off the Current River between the Hickory and Cataract landings, with a Park Service day use area and river trail. The spring water is strictly off limits, but the cave is one of the few in the park open to enter on foot, as far as the interior shade line.
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Some springs in the Riverways announce themselves with a parking lot and a crowd. This one sits up a short branch off the Current River in the Hunter reach, between the Hickory and Cataract landings, where a spring rises in the mouth of a cave and runs down its branch to the river. Float guides for the river put the branch mouth at the Hickory Landing stretch, with a second small spring half a mile up the branch and Cave Spring itself about a mile up it.
The Park Service's own planning maps for the Lower Current label a Cave Spring Day Use Area and a Cave Spring River Trail in this reach, reached by the gravel roads that run from Route E toward the river landings. The visit here is simple and quiet: come down the gravel road, walk the short ground to the spring branch, and look. Park rules prohibit entry into spring pools and spring branches everywhere in the Riverways, and the one stated exception at this branch is the vehicle crossing on the way to Hickory Landing, so the spring is viewed from the bank and its water is left alone. The cave is a different story: the Compendium names this cave one of the few in the park open to the public, on foot as far as the interior shade line where the daylight gives out, so you can step into the cave mouth even though the water stays untouched.
Sort out which Cave Spring you mean before you set out: this is the small Lower Current spring near Hickory Landing, not the much larger Cave Spring on the upper river near Akers that floaters paddle into. No fee and no hours are stated for this day use area in the official sources, the approach is gravel, and river conditions can close low ground in this reach after heavy rain, so check the park's current conditions before you go.
Good to know before you go
- Fees
- No fee stated by the official source, marked unknown. No entrance pass is required anywhere in Ozark National Scenic Riverways (NPS Fees page).
- Hours and seasons
- No hours stated by the official source, and no seasonal closure is stated for the day use area in the sources read. Its designated status rests on the Park Service's 2022 Roads and Trails Management Plan maps (the preferred alternative), and current park material still lists the day use area and its river trail (status rechecked November 9, 2026; no closure or alert in effect). Entry into the spring and its branch is prohibited park-wide under the Superintendent's Compendium, with a single stated exception for the vehicle crossing at Cave Spring Branch on the way to the Hickory Landing area: this is a spring you look at from the bank, never one you swim or wade in. The cave at the spring is open to the public on foot as far as its interior shade line.
- Parking
- No parking facility is stated in an official source for the day use area. The road approach to this reach is the park brochure's Hickory Landing route: Highway 60 east from Van Buren about 20 miles, Highway 21 south about 4 miles, then Highway E to the end of the pavement and the gravel roads beyond.
- Accessibility
- No accessibility statement is published for this site; the approach is by gravel road and trail, and no accessible facility is stated in any source read.
- Nearest town
- Van Buren, Missouri
- Region
- Southeast Missouri
- Coordinates
- 36.89589, -90.89624
What you can do there
- Day use area in the Hickory Landing reach (shown on the Park Service's Roads and Trails Management Plan maps, February 2022)
- Cave Spring River Trail (shown on the same Park Service maps)